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New Divide
"New Divide" is a single written for Michael Bay's film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The song serves as the film's theme, and was released as a single on May 18, 2009. Background Linkin Park's "What I've Done" was included on the first Transformers soundtrack and was featured in the film's trailer. Mike Shinoda first alluded to "New Divide" on March 28, 2009, stating "We've been working on a new song in the past couple of weeks that has been a lot of fun. The backdrop for the song is built on layered, heavy synths and a sharp performance by band's drummer Rob Bourdon." On April 24, Shinoda revealed that they were working with film score composer Hans Zimmer, writing various interpretations of "New Divide" to serve as thematic elements for the film. When discussing the Transformers sequel with Blabbermouth, Michael Bay said "I love Linkin Park... they really delivered with 'New Divide' — it's a great song that perfectly matches the film's intensity." Parts of the intro were used in the final Transformers trailer. "New Divide" was released as a download on May 22 in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Israel, Taiwan. Zane Lowe previewed it on BBC Radio 1 and speculated that its "introspective" style could be "a sign of things to come" but added that it was too early to make predictions. The song "NEST" from Steve Jablonsky's Revenge of the Fallen musical score features instrumental excerpts from "New Divide". Linkin Park worked with award-winning composer Hans Zimmer to re-work "New Divide" in the musical score. The song is featured in the end credits of the film. Song New Divide is with heavier riffs and a more aggressive vocal style than on the majority of the songs on Minutes to Midnight, a step back into the direction of the band's alternative metal style. The song is technically their longest single to date, although the album version of Shadow of the Day plus its electronic-styled keyboard outro, has a longer duration. Mike Shinoda does a lot of backing vocals in the single and during the chorus Mike and Brad Delson do the backing vocals. Critical Reception The song has received positive reviews from the critics. Chris Williams from the Billboard Magazine says: "New Divide fits the sci-fi genre: spacious, moody and futuristic. Lead vocalist Chester Bennington gives one of his more straightforward vocal performances, deftly balancing his usual rock edge with a more melody-focused pop vocal. It's a welcome return that should satisfy the band's fan base and bring in some new fans as well." Music video On May 14, Shinoda revealed that they were currently recording an accompanying music video for the song. The video, shot on location at Paramount Studios May 13 and 14, is set in an Egyptian cave and was directed by Mr. Hahn, the band's DJ. When discussing the video, Shinoda stated "Hahn's planning on using a lot of really interesting cutting-edge visual techniques, blurring the line between our performance and some kind of digital/mechanical reality." Chester Bennington confirmed that the video is related to the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie, saying on his blog, "Honestly, I don't know what's going on in the video. We're in a tomb rocking out and there's a huge dead Transformer." Linkin Park has released two behind the scenes videos of the music video. Both photos and footage of the video shoot were posted on Shinoda's blog site.The video premiered on the band's Myspace site on June 11th. Two weeks later, New Divide had 3,569,562 views. The music video features scenes taken from the movie, along with shots of the band inside the Tomb of the Primes (The 7 original Transformers) while performing the song. A lot of special effects are also seen and the video is heavily edited in places making use of thermal cameras and using flying food parts as texture around a lot of the thermal imagery. Despite many rumors of the female in the video being Megan Fox and even vocalist Chester Bennington's wife Talinda, she is a hired actress with similar features to Megan Fox. According to Talinda, she is only shown in the thermal lens to look more like Fox. Bassist Dave Farrell is not seen in shots of the whole band performing, he had hurt his wrist during the first day of filming so it is presumed this is the reason for his lack of appearance in the video, though he is seen many times during the special effects. Chart performance In the United States, "New Divide" debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's highest debut to date, and their highest peaking song since "In the End" on the chart. The single dropped sharply to number 39 the week after its release but resurfaced within the top 10 at number nine following the movie's worldwide premiere. "New Divide" reached number one on both the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It is the band's eighth number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song debuted at number three on the Canadian Hot 100 and reached the top ten on the Australian ARIA Charts, debuting at number ten. 'New Divide' has since become Linkin Park's highest charting song in Australia, peaking at #3 on the Aria Top 50 Singles Chart. It has also reached #2 on the New Zealand RIANZ chart. The song debuted at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart, and later rose to #19. "New Divide" has been successful worldwide, reaching the top twenty in Finland, Germany, Italy, Turkey and New Zealand as well. Lyrics I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me I remembered each flash as time began to blur Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow And the ground caved in between where we were standing And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes across this new divide In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you'd deny And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide Across this new divide, across this new divide Category:Linkin Park songs